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Isidora Alphard
"From that look on your face, I'd say you've already underestimated me. Good. Then this won't take half as long as I thought." Catherine Isidora Alphard, '''known to friends as Izzy,' is a privateer captain affiliated with the Terran Imperial Navy. She is best known for her decades-spanning career as a pirate hunter and her participation in one of the most decisive conflicts of the short-lived Third Terran-Procyon War. Born into wealth and privilege, she went against her family's wishes and enrolled at the Naval Academy in pursuit of a life of adventure. Though she graduated with honors and obtained the rank of Captain within a decade, she left the Navy after losing one of her dearest friends and receiving blame for the loss from another dear friend, as it had been an act of self-sacrifice in order to save Izzy's life. Unable to settle down and enjoy civilian life, she took to spacing once more as a privateer after learning of a resurgence in pirate activity throughout the frontier. She went on to carve out a reputation for herself as a fierce fighter and cunning strategist over the course of twenty years, during which time she acquired the infamous cutter ''Penumbra. Unfortunately, her career came to an abrupt end when the mysterious pirate Ironbeard ambushed her and destroyed her ship, leaving her critically wounded and the sole survivor of the disaster. Events following the incident led her to teach briefly at the Academy, the first privateer to ever do so, and from there she became caught up in a conspiracy that would eventually escalate into all-out war. For her role in attaining victory against the Procyons at the Battle of Parliament, among other achievements, she was awarded the Star of Terra and the honorary rank of Admiral. Rather than retire to a life of leisure, she resumed the lifestyle of a privateer some months later and accepted a commission from Queen Illysa II to seek out Forefather artifacts in the far reaches of the Etherium. Biography Early Life Lofty Origins Izzy was born on the planet Elysium, known as one of the "Crown Worlds" due to its natural beauty, wealthy population and close proximity to Earth. Her birthplace was the capital city of Asphodel. Her parents were both influential, affluent people well-connected to high society through blood and commerce; her father Alexander Phillips was distantly related to the royal family while her mother Aliyah Alphard hailed from a long line of explorers and merchants who had been sailing since before ships could fly. They co-managed directorship of the Cygnus Trading Company, formerly the Al-Cygni Trading Company, which had been created by one of Aliyah's ancestors. The Company held legal monopoly over interstellar trade within Terran space, a privilege granted directly by the Queen, and even handled the governance of several planetary colonies. With such commercial and political successes, Alexander and Aliyah saw no reason to doubt a bright future and started a family. They had two daughters a year apart, Georgina and Caroline, and were pleased to learn of a third child on the way two years later. But the pregnancy was difficult and Aliyah became bedbound halfway through, only to give birth two months ahead of schedule. The child, a daughter, was named Catherine Isidora after both of her parents' mothers, and though doctors warned her chances of survival were slim she managed to beat the odds with the help of technology; she quickly became notorious for meddling with the life-saving equipment and had to have her tiny hands tied down. Having established herself as a fighter early on, Izzy went on to test every boundary placed before her as a sickly youngster raised in a sheltered environment. Her parents were extremely cautious with her and assumed, based on her perilous infancy and smaller-than-average size, she would be better off living as comfortably and quietly as possible. Unfortunately, Izzy was precociously intelligent and developed a penchant for outsmarting the many nannies, governesses and androids tasked with keeping her under control. Since all of the Alphard children were educated through private tutors instead of going to school, her exposure to the outside world was restricted to books and holo-vids. And though she was exceptionally smart and excelled in subjects such as math, science and music, her parents continued to view her as fragile and held her back from following her sisters on outings and other adventures. As a teenager, Izzy managed to convince her parents to allow fencing lessons as part of her academic routine. It was one of the few outlets for her pent-up resentment over being sidelined and, in her view, ignored. Because her parents and sisters were often attending lavish parties and other social events, she felt left behind and excluded from their lives. Rather than resign herself to loneliness, she became fixated on proving herself as more than a weakling and set her sights on a goal she knew her parents would consider unobtainable: becoming a Naval officer. To this end, she threw herself into her studies and stopped caring about matters such as whether she was beautiful enough or would attract suitors. While her sisters were being presented to high society and courted by young aristocrats, she was building toward her goal of escaping what she considered a gilded cage. The Naval Academy From Lieutenant to Captain Crisis and Resignation The Privateer Birth of a Mercenary Hunter of Hunters The Penumbra Defeat Personality and Traits "Live for yourself. Fight for yourself, even if you have regrets. Otherwise you won't be able to fight for others." Mental Overview There are many who might sum Izzy up with a single word, that word being "difficult." Though physically diminutive, she puts effort into projecting a presence that makes her impossible to easily ignore or push around. Her mentality is that of someone whose life has revolved around a series of struggles, giving her a realistic view of events that often borders on cynicism. Her reputation for pragmatism and caustic speech precedes her in many situations, creating discomfort between herself and others, but her true self is a thoughtful and sensitive person who enjoys bonding with people she deems compatible. While she resents having her authority undermined and can be quite argumentative when challenged, she is not an egotistical individual and is actually prone to more self-doubt than she would ever admit. She actively puts on a front of utmost confidence in her abilities to inspire those who look to her for leadership, but is inwardly cautious and acutely aware of her failures. In her own words, she is the ultimate hypocrite because she despises liars but lies constantly because she feels it is her duty. She harbors a great deal of survivor's guilt from many instances and hates being called a hero. She places a high value on interpersonal loyalty, being a staunchly loyal person to people she trusts, and does not take betrayal well. Having been emotionally neglected as a child, she dislikes adults who mistreat children whether the mistreatment was intentional or not. Manipulating a child, putting a child in danger, ignoring a child's needs - these things will quickly invite her ire and she becomes protective of the child(ren) in question. She is capable of holding deep grudges for many years, even decades, but is also capable of letting those grudges go and making peace with them. At times she can be aggressive, even to the point of challenging certain offenders to duels, but generally she strives to remain level-headed. She is aware that her own temper impairs her better judgment at times and becomes embarrassed when her feelings get in the way of her calculations. She prefers clothing with utility over aesthetic due to her line of work, though she has a soft spot for certain "impractical" articles. Her demeanor and presentation are usually modest but she lacks certain inhibitions due to years of sharing cramped space with all manner of species and genders, which can lead to awkward situations. Physical Overview Izzy strongly resembles her mother, whose family originated from Earth's Middle Eastern and North African regions. She has light brown skin, dark brown hair (now gray) and amber eyes. She has always been short and petite and tends toward a slender but lean physique. Her facial features are neither sharp nor delicate, but a balance between the two. She used to have long hair which she pulled back into a bun but now wears it cut into a messy chin-length bob. Her body is covered in scars accumulated over the course of thirty years and her left arm is missing, having been amputated at the shoulder. Upon losing 80% of the sight in her left eye due to a traumatic cataract, she took to wearing an eyepatch to prevent blurriness from muddling her overall vision and eventually opted to have the eye replaced by an ocular implant, a decision she described as "tactical." In terms of ability, she has an unusually high tolerance for pain and has always favored a fighting style prioritizing endurance and speed over brute strength; her approach emphasizes out-maneuvering an opponent to wear them down before dealing a decisive blow once they make the first misstep. Her health is more delicate than she prefers to admit, as she is missing a lung (among other things), and a drastic decline in stamina following the destruction of her ship forced her to adopt a more cautious strategy with emphasis on ranged attacks instead of her previous close-quarters methods. However, she regained much of her former capacity over time and with the addition of an advanced prosthetic arm possessing built-in weaponry, she became a force to be reckoned with once more. Trivia Izzy was inspired to some degree by the following characters, in no particular order: * the main heroines of Revolutionary Girl Utena * Commander Shepard of the Mass Effect games * the character Billie Lurk/Meagan Foster from the Dishonored series * Saber/Altria Pendragon of the Fate franchise * Cassandra Pentaghast of the ''Dragon Age ''games She began existence in 2013 as a character named Kate Phillips whose appearance and backstory were quite different. The decisions to change her ethnicity, reduce her height and other tweaks were made in an attempt to distance her design from the author's previous original characters. Inside the author's head, she sounds like Gina Torres.